Stolt Herr Alf

"Stolt Herr Alf" ("Proud Lord Alf", SMB 206, TSB E 58) or "Álvur kongur" (CCF 14) is a medieval Scandinavian ballad with Swedish and Faroese variants,[1] based on the same legendary material as the Icelandic legendary saga Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka,[2] from pre-Christian times.

The suffix -grim is a virtually unique word for "leader" which is otherwise only attested in the runestone Sö 126, but in the earlier form grimR.

In Old Norse, the basic meaning of the adjective grimmr is "heartless, strict and wicked", and so grimmr is comparable in semantics to Old Norse gramr which meant both "wrath", "king" and "warrior".

[4] The ballad tells that Lord Alf's wife woke up from a nightmare.

[8] Toward the end of the ballad, the people decide to take vengeance and slay King Asmund because he refused to pay weregild—usual punishment, according to medieval Scandinavian laws when a killer refuses to pay weregild[8] (as in the story) or commits quickfire.

In this medieval ballad, the pagan god Odin gives advice on how to safely dispose of an undesirable man. An 1886 depiction of Odin by Georg von Rosen .